It is well known to produce extreme ultraviolet (“EUV”) light from plasmas created, e.g., by applying a high voltage across electrodes to produce a discharge, e.g., in a gas medium, e.g., containing an active material, e.g., Xenon, to produce light at EUV wavelengths, e.g., for xenon at 13.5 nm (also referred to as soft-x-ray). Such EUV light sources are commonly referred to as discharge produced plasma (“DPP”) EUV (soft-x-ray) light sources.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,930, issued to Partlo on Jun. 9, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 6,051,841, issued to Partlo on Apr. 18, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,072, issued to Partlo et al. on May 16, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,199, issued to Partlo et al. on Sep. 17, 2002, U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,786, issued to Partlo on Apr. 1, 2003, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,586,757, issued to Melnychuck et al. on Jul. 1, 2003, along with pending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 09/752,818, 10/120,655, entitled PULSE POWER SYSTEM FOR EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET AND X-RAY LIGHT, filed on Apr. 10, 2002, with inventors Ness et al., Published on Nov. 7, 2002, Pub. No. US/2002-0163313-A1, Ser. No. 10/189,824, filed on Jul. 3, 2002, entitled PLASMA FOCUS LIGHT SOURCE WITH IMPROVED PULSE POWER SYSTEM, with inventors Melnychuk et al., published on Jan. 9, 2003, Publication No. US/2003-0006383-A1, Ser. No. 10/384,967, filed on Mar. 8, 2003, entitled HIGH POWER DEEP ULTRAVIOLET LASER WITH LONG LIFE OPTICS, with inventors Yager, et al., Ser. No. 10/409,254, filed on Apr. 8, 2003, entitled EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT SOURCE, with inventors Melnychuk et al. all discuss aspects of EUV light sources particularly utilizing DPP to create the plasma producing the light, and the disclosures of each of these are hereby incorporated by reference.
Current EUV collection optics consist, e.g., of several nested shells with common focal points, e.g., at some common ambient temperature. Typically these shells are formed, e.g., from nickel, and feature relatively thin walls, e.g., approximately 1 mm thick. A consequence of EUV light generation is high thermal loads on components close to the EUV source point. In the case of optical components, these thermal loads can, e.g., distort critical surfaces shifting focal points.
A very efficient manner for transmitting EUV light is, e.g., via “glancing angle of incidence” reflectors. Typically the nested collector shells will feature, e.g., at least two distinct reflecting surfaces, e.g., flat or curved surfaces, enabling light emitted at large angles from a discharge produced plasma to be collected and delivered to an intermediate focal point or plane at a relatively small angle, i.e., numerical aperture.
Avoiding distortions and maintaining focus plane or point is an aspect of EUV light source design that can use some improvement.
Electrode lifetime is another EUV light source issue that needs attention. Electrode lifetimes of 100M shots at a 10% output degradation are believed to be minimum requirements for a DPP EUV system. Current technology allows for more on the order of less than 30M shots with around the noted degradation. A byproduct of EUV light emission by means of a DPP produced pinched plasma is high thermal loads on the structures and elements in close proximity to the pinch formation. This can lead to several detrimental effects on performance and on component life, e.g., in the case of the central electrode, thermal loads may be so severe that the outer surface of the electrode could excessively erode, e.g., through material vaporization. Erosion eventually forces replacement of the electrode for a number of reasons, including effects on the plasma formation and inability to withstand the pressure of cooling water circulating in the interior of the electrode structure.
At this time, EUV electrode lifetimes are an order of magnitude away from lifetime figures quoted by the lithography industry. As such, replacement costs and machine downtime during electrode replacement constitute a large portion of “cost of ownership” for DPP EUV sources.
SiC—BN is known to be used in the defense industry as armor plating. SiC doping with BN is common for SiC-graphite systems, e.g., coated fibers with BN. TiW is known to be used for contacts in the semiconductor industry and is a common machined material, e.g., for PVD targets.
Another important consideration for DPP EUV light sources is the need to substantially decrease deleterious effects of electrode debris, arising from a discharge produced plasma EUV light source, impinging upon system optics, e.g., the collector optical elements.
Another important aspect of DPP EUV light sources is the need to make the most efficient use possible of the energy injected into the DPP apparatus, in order to maximize the light output for a given energy input. Very high energy light output is required and there are limits, e.g., on the ability to deliver very high energy pulses to the discharge electrodes at the required repetition rates, e.g., due to timing and heat dissipation requirements.